Victoria Mavis is not the average
disabled keynote speaker who may tell the struggle of living with disabilities
from a wheelchair or recount tales of overcoming life with a handicap by defeating
competitors through her athletic feats—she wishes she could, but that’s not
been the journey of her life disability. Rather, Victoria Mavis views ableism
as the world seen through a disability filter where she’s normal, like everyone
who doesn’t have obvious disabilities. Her reality and speaker presentations force
the world to adapt to her vision of ableism, despite her unique walking disability
of a halting limp, her best supporter, ‘Steve’, a forearm metal crutch that
anchors her every step, and the wheelchair she uses when the journey is too
long for her to walk.
Already a best-selling online
Amazon book Author, Victoria Mavis co-authored the book, Building the Ultimate
Network. Her contribution to the book was ‘Commanding the Room’, where Victoria
outlines her successful strategy in meeting key people in a room full of
strangers when you’re the disabled one sitting in the wheelchair or walking
with the forearm crutch who sticks out like a purple Barney at a white wedding.
Now, Victoria Mavis’ newly
launched book, Every Scar Tells a Story is life-inspired (Victoria’s) and
includes everyday
characters who share their insights to overcome daily adversities that
inadvertently or unconsciously place roadblocks to their success. The journey
chronicles this disabled woman’s triumph over a crippling childhood injury that
caused her lifetime handicap, thus unleashing her true potential to tell about
it; her faith is that it gives others hope to overcome and achieve—whether they
have a disability or not.
Throughout her career, Victoria
Mavis has been a speaker at countless conferences. She has delivered keynote presentations
on disabilities, accessibility, and ableism and interactive workshops on a
variety of human resource, interpersonal communication skills, and disability topics.
However, her favorite speaker engagements are those where participants of every
ability are engaged on a journey to change the path they’re on to one that they
dream (and plan that day) to achieve through their distinctive view of ableism.
Victoria Mavis’ professional
experience includes a lifetime career as a human resource professional (you can
find her on LinkedIn), including owning her own HR consulting practice and
being employed by a variety of large international manufacturing corporations
in human resources.
Victoria Mavis holds an MBA, is
lifetime certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) by the
Society of Human Resource Management, and is also certified as a behavioral
specialist. She has held memberships in Rotary International, BNI, and other
business, professional, and community organizations throughout her career.
Victoria Mavis currently resides
in Arkansas. When she is not working, writing, or tending to her social media
following, she enjoys gardening and uses a wheelchair and other accessibility
tools to assist in her efforts. She is developing programs for disability
agencies, educational institutions, and healthcare providers to help
individuals with disabilities leverage their ableism through various art forms.
If you are interested in having
Victoria Mavis as a disabled speaker for a workshop or keynote address at your
event, or want to arrange a book signing event, simply reach out through one of her Social Media channels or drop a
quick email to [email protected].
